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Rahman has always skirted around jazz, dropping in classical influences and swishing around elements from her mixed heritage. Recent projects have concentrated on this later awareness, adding motifs from the pianist’s Bengali and Irish ancestry. The result, as with many globally-aware artists, is a type of composition that melds all of its disparate constituents into a final form that becomes difficult to disentangle, therefore taking on a deeply personal hue. Rahman also manages to thoroughly inhabit the three selections penned by the hugely influential Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore.
The global traversing aspect is even more evident in the playing of Idris Rahman, who gleefully hints at South African township, Indian classical music and klezmer, even if those phrases might only rise up fleetingly from his jazz foundation.
There’s a driving old-time bluesiness to the opening Down to Earth, surging forward with a percussive confidence. Rahman’s solos are decorated by her springy-touch key-runs, as drummer Gene Calderazzo snaps the beats with shifting accents. Pine’s flute breezes through the soft opening of Conversation With Nellie, which is misted with an Indian scent.
Equal attention is paid to pondering and punching, as each piece opens up a fresh mood, sometimes working through one to the other during the same tune. There’s little darkness here, as the composer favours a capering, joyful character. The traditional Butlers of Glen Avenue has Rahman making her Indian harmonium sound like an Irish accordion.
One hand is inside the piano for Outside In, dampening selected strings, starting out sparsely then gaining solidity. The only mournful stretch arrives with Imagination, as Idris switches to bass clarinet, swelling impressionistically before lurching towards a portentous climax. Stevie Wonder’s Contusion closes up the set, with Rahman’s reading enjoying almost exactly the same running time as the original, give or take a few seconds. What does this mean: happenstance or an ingrained familiarity with this ancient folkloric melody?
--Martin Longley
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
I would have to say that when I first saw her playing with Courtney, he was doing his best to get the best out of her and was pushing her to the limits of her playing. At times she looked in awe of Courtney, but I would suggest that with this new album under her belt, that Courtney might be in awe of her...
The album takes you on a musical journey into the land that she was born, it's a great melting pot of melodies, and worth the journey with her and the band.
I cannot wait to see her play on Courtney's next album and tour, he has for my money got one of the best Jazz pianist in the World playing for him, and she as a solo artist has a great future ahead.
It can only get better from this album on...
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